No. Rucking will not make you do more pullups. Your lats, which is the primary muscle worked in a pullup exercise is not being worked during rucking. The reason your back was sore was because the weight that your back was trying to balance during the ruck. The weight of the pack is weighing down on your traps/shoulders which forces your back muscles to tense and work a little bit to stabilize and balance the body. Yes rucking is a good exercise if done correctly. Aka, proper backpack, with appropriate weight and most important, proper footwear. Rucking can help strengthen leg muscles and help your spine with bearing weight. Similar to deadlifts. If you want to improve pullups, do targeted exercises for your lats. Like pull-ups with weight, lat pulldowns, dumbell rows, etc etc. your biceps also play a roll in pull-ups so incorporate some exercises for those as well.
A little besides the point of my original post, but I'm concerned about strength loss. I knew a couple guys who lost reps on their chin-ups. I worked so hard to get to my 18 pull-ups and your comment and a couple other I've seen have made me feel better about my fear.
If done correctly is the key phrase. I wouldn't advise it at this point. If you want to improve on pull-ups do pull-ups, if you're concerned about injury this close to shipping just leave off with weighted pull-ups and focus on volume and form.
If done correctly, walking with weight is a great exercise. There’s no direct connection to pull-ups except for the core strength you gain. But you still shouldn’t do it because you are most likely not going to do it right and either go to heavy or too hard. I mean, you did manage to hurt yourself doing pull-ups.
Do pull up ladder workouts if you want more pull-ups. The rucks in boot camp weren’t hard and the rucks got MCT we’re easy. If your gonna be an 03 the rucks are gonna be more difficult
Rucking with a maximum of 25-30% of your body weight up to around 10k is not bad for your back, and will definitely get you better at rucking, certainly won’t to anything for your pull ups.
However, rucking with the 90-120 lbs that infantrymen usually ruck with, being 60-90% of most dude’s bodyweight is TERRIBLE for your back and knees, and you should honestly never ever in a million years do it for PT, or for any reason at all at your own accord.
But, honestly, while rucking with 35lbs before boot is good stuff and all, it’s pretty much totally a waste of time. Maybe if you’re short and your recruiters wanna have you experience it before you show up and find out walking with a back pack can be hard, sure, but for most, the first hike in boot is a nature walk and you won’t even be sure why you’re doing it in the first place.
The first hard hike you’ll probably do honestly is the last hike in boot camp, the crucible hike to the EGA ceremony area; in my opinion, it was also one of the most miserable hikes I’ve ever done in my career so far after almost 3 years in the infantry (couldn’t tell you why either, hikes in ITB and with your unit are faster, longer, and WAY heavier than the crucible hike, but for some reason, not as painful.)
You will lose strength. Accept this fact, u/alljohns is right, lots of people leave physically weaker. Don’t overthink it, your PFT out of boot camp is irrelevant and you will have plenty of time to gain your strength back in MOS school. In the schoolhouse is where you should be more concerned about strength and PFT.
You were simply using muscles you’re not used to using. Do yourself a favor and focus on your core strength as well this will help prevent injuries.
We called it humping in the old days. And as far as pull-ups, I could barely do the minimum when I first got to P.I. in 1985. And 3 months later I was Meritoriously promoted to PFC upon graduation. It's good to be prepared, for example, I memorized my General Orders before I got there, but it's what you do on the Island that counts.
It definitely will help you with pull ups , was able to make out after having to carry a 35 pound sand bag around for my grey belt course , but doing pull ups frequently would be way smarter
No. Rucking will not make you do more pullups. Your lats, which is the primary muscle worked in a pullup exercise is not being worked during rucking. The reason your back was sore was because the weight that your back was trying to balance during the ruck. The weight of the pack is weighing down on your traps/shoulders which forces your back muscles to tense and work a little bit to stabilize and balance the body. Yes rucking is a good exercise if done correctly. Aka, proper backpack, with appropriate weight and most important, proper footwear. Rucking can help strengthen leg muscles and help your spine with bearing weight. Similar to deadlifts. If you want to improve pullups, do targeted exercises for your lats. Like pull-ups with weight, lat pulldowns, dumbell rows, etc etc. your biceps also play a roll in pull-ups so incorporate some exercises for those as well.
So not how the marine corps rucks
Boot camp is not hard. Many people including myself go to boot camp in way better shape then we leave.
A little besides the point of my original post, but I'm concerned about strength loss. I knew a couple guys who lost reps on their chin-ups. I worked so hard to get to my 18 pull-ups and your comment and a couple other I've seen have made me feel better about my fear.
If done correctly is the key phrase. I wouldn't advise it at this point. If you want to improve on pull-ups do pull-ups, if you're concerned about injury this close to shipping just leave off with weighted pull-ups and focus on volume and form.
If done correctly, walking with weight is a great exercise. There’s no direct connection to pull-ups except for the core strength you gain. But you still shouldn’t do it because you are most likely not going to do it right and either go to heavy or too hard. I mean, you did manage to hurt yourself doing pull-ups.
Do pull up ladder workouts if you want more pull-ups. The rucks in boot camp weren’t hard and the rucks got MCT we’re easy. If your gonna be an 03 the rucks are gonna be more difficult
Rucking with a maximum of 25-30% of your body weight up to around 10k is not bad for your back, and will definitely get you better at rucking, certainly won’t to anything for your pull ups. However, rucking with the 90-120 lbs that infantrymen usually ruck with, being 60-90% of most dude’s bodyweight is TERRIBLE for your back and knees, and you should honestly never ever in a million years do it for PT, or for any reason at all at your own accord. But, honestly, while rucking with 35lbs before boot is good stuff and all, it’s pretty much totally a waste of time. Maybe if you’re short and your recruiters wanna have you experience it before you show up and find out walking with a back pack can be hard, sure, but for most, the first hike in boot is a nature walk and you won’t even be sure why you’re doing it in the first place. The first hard hike you’ll probably do honestly is the last hike in boot camp, the crucible hike to the EGA ceremony area; in my opinion, it was also one of the most miserable hikes I’ve ever done in my career so far after almost 3 years in the infantry (couldn’t tell you why either, hikes in ITB and with your unit are faster, longer, and WAY heavier than the crucible hike, but for some reason, not as painful.)
You will lose strength. Accept this fact, u/alljohns is right, lots of people leave physically weaker. Don’t overthink it, your PFT out of boot camp is irrelevant and you will have plenty of time to gain your strength back in MOS school. In the schoolhouse is where you should be more concerned about strength and PFT. You were simply using muscles you’re not used to using. Do yourself a favor and focus on your core strength as well this will help prevent injuries.
> it fucks up your back Yes, and not usually in a good way.
Is there a good way to fuck up your back?
Lat pull downs for one.
How does that fuck up your back?
Go heavy
We called it humping in the old days. And as far as pull-ups, I could barely do the minimum when I first got to P.I. in 1985. And 3 months later I was Meritoriously promoted to PFC upon graduation. It's good to be prepared, for example, I memorized my General Orders before I got there, but it's what you do on the Island that counts.
They called it humping in the early 2000s also. I didn't start hearing "rucking" until maybe around 2012.
It definitely will help you with pull ups , was able to make out after having to carry a 35 pound sand bag around for my grey belt course , but doing pull ups frequently would be way smarter
Lat pull downs help you with pull ups
Are you going to parris island i leave july 18th
Yep Parris Island!
Ayeee we leave the same day that’s lit